"so before you change your mind, just run away with me"

chase atlantic — "run away"

The softness of my messy sheets brush against my skin. My eyes slowly open themselves the more my body wakes up realising the place I'm in. Finding the familiar white wall and dark brown closet my eyesight sees every day when I wake up on this bed, sends me a wave of safety through my body. But what my eyes can see, is the only normal thing that my body is experiencing.

The more and more I wake up, the more my skin touches the other body on my bed. Warmer than my clothes, Lucifer lays asleep by my side. My hand rests on his relaxed stomach while his hand gently holds my elbow, keeping it in place. His other one rests under my head, bringing me closer and uniting our bodies in a cuddle. My leg doesn't want to move as it's wrapped around his, needing to feel that warmth until it's time to get out of my comfortable bed.

Gently lifting my head to not make a lot of movement, my eyes once they locate his, slowly breathing while his lips are slightly apart, mine can't help but let out a tiny smile. He looks so deep into his sleep that even if annoying him by waking him up will give me a sort of enjoyment in this morning, I don't want to. Somehow, strangely as it is, a part of me believes looking at him like this is bigger than any joy that can give me.

Yeah, I'm all sorts of fucked up today.

Either way, I don't question it. I stay there, enjoying the sight of Lucifer not opening his mouth and saying something that would make me mad, not moving his body touching mine and making a mess of all of my thoughts, just him... existing. Being him. Not Lucifer Donovan, the guy I hate, just, Lucifer. These days, the difference between them is growing stronger and stronger.

"Your make up is a mess." Before I can look away, the sound of his raspy morning voice hits my ears. Giving me a grin as he slowly opens his eyes, I realise I'm doomed, he caught me staring.

"Good morning to you too, asshole." I roll my eyes to cover up my prior actions. "I was starting to decide if I should slap you to wake you up or not." Letting my body be held by my elbows as I lay on my stomach, Lucifer still doesn't move his arm away from under mine.

Hearing a chuckle coming from his mouth, my eyes ask to stare at him once again. "Are we gonna argue because we woke up like this?"

Quickly, the palm of my hand flies towards his arm. Smack. "Fuck you." I joke.

Another chuckle is let out by him.

C'mon, just one look.

"Fuck you too."

No, this is the time I tell him to leave. Make up an excuse, an emergency, something, make him leave my dorm allowing me to carry on with my day as if nothing happened. Like I always do.

What do we say? My stomach hurts? Done it too much. My head hurts? That could be a good one. I have homework? Yeah, not even Lucifer would believe that I would get out of bed this time in the morning to do work. Study? For what? What class? C'mon, the lie has to have details. He can ask anything and it's no time to stutter—

Making the biggest mistake I've ever done, my eyes meet his throwing any excuse that my brain has been thinking of to the trash. Those thick lips asking me to kiss them, that messy hair making me brush my fingers together needing to touch them, and those green eyes... staring at me with that familiar shine, even if the light coming through the window makes them even more beautiful. I can't look away. I'm mesmerised, my tongue can't even start to let out a single word. I could look at him all day, sleepy with baggy eyes and a relaxed expression giving me a gentle smile as my brain doesn't realise I've been staring at him for too long.

I don't want to get out this bed, not now, not in a couple of minutes, not tomorrow, not ever.

"What?" Lucifer's confused question brings me back to reality.

"What?"

"You were thinking something."

I quickly shake my head. "It's nothing."

Nothing?! I'm seriously having a change of mind in front of him and I say "nothing"?! This isn't nothing! I want to be in this bed with him, I'm not arguing with myself about it, my mind isn't telling me to leave and my body isn't hinting to me of being uncomfortable in any way. What is happening?!

Nothing, apparently!

"Oh, right." Lucifer speaks again, rolling his eyes. "I forgot that I was talking to you, Lilith Avery, having a thought would be too much for your little brain."

Maybe I don't want to leave this bed, but sure as hell I want to slap him!

"Actually," I start "I was thinking how dumb you look right now. I didn't know I went to sleep with the lookalike of the old man from Back to the Future."

"He's very smart so I'm gonna take that as a compliment." Annoying as he is, he doesn't get angry at my insult.

"He's crazy." I try to make it worst.

"And? He invented a time machine."

Ugh, asshole. Get annoyed, damn it!

"Then, tell your lookalike to let me use it because I want to go back to a minute ago, I regret not slapping you to wake you up."

Not giving me a chance to say anything else or even react to his sudden movement with his hand, the arm under me makes its way to my cheek and grabs it, pulling me closer to his face as our breathings start to mix with each other. I say quiet waiting for a word from him, but he doesn't say anything, instead, for a moment, longer than I could count and remember the number, his thumb caresses my skin as his eyes don't let go of mine.

"You look beautiful." He finally say, softly and slowly for me to understand every single word he let out.

I don't say anything even if I've processed what he's telling me. I stare at his eyes without being able to even try and let out a word, inside of me there's a mix between confusion and shock, not expecting to hear those words at all.

"What?" Lucifer asks seeing the surprise on my face. Quickly, as an automatic response, my expression turns into a weirded out one. "We can't compliment each other? You said it yourself, we're not five, we can compliment other without making it weird." I don't say anything, slowly pulling back from him. "Stop it!" He can't help but laugh. "You love when I compliment you in bed but other times you hate it?"

I— he didn't.

"It's weird! And not to mention different!"

"How is it different?"

"Well—" I brusquely shut my mouth. There isn't an answer because Lucifer's right, there's no difference.  "you don't have your dick inside of me, for starters..." Sometimes I wonder how some words even have the audacity to come out of me. The way that Lucifer slowly smiles at me and bursts out laughing, I regret even opening my mouth to begin with. "Shut up!"

"You're so funny."

I let my forehead rest on his chest, giving up. "I know, sometimes I hate myself because of it."

His laugh is slowly drifted away by the sound of his heart beating under me. The more I hear it the more I want to stay in that position and lose myself in it, maybe even fall asleep. My body is starting to feel the relaxation, how my arms get heavy and drop on the bed, my eyes slowly closing and my breathing becoming gentler the more I let myself into it. His heart beats normally, following the rhythm of his sleepy body under me and his chest carrying the soft wind entering his body. My brain shuts off, my body isn't here anymore drifting away from reality while my heart just feels like it could stay in this bed all day...

"That prick! That asshole!" The angry sound of Ada's voice outside our room makes my body brusquely sit down on the bed, surprised to hear her.

"Is that Ada?" Lucifer asks, but I don't respond, my brain goes into search mode coming up with the conclusion on why is she here to early.

She spent the night with Ryker, and when she does, she never comes to our dorm so early— what days is it?

Oh, fuck. Our weekly breakfast!

"Oh shit—" as soon as I let out my frustrated words my body quickly jumps out of the bed with the intention to look for my pijamas and change into them. Lucifer is here and there's not even a tiny chance I'm gonna let her see him, we all know what could lead to that and there's no time. Not even a million of years would be enough time for Ada if she wants to rob on my face how she was right. And don't even get me started on the whole "I'm hiding this from her" bit. It's not good.

"Who's he to tell me I'm in the wrong?!" The sound of her hands making a mess of the inside of her backpack looking for her keys indicates how angry she is, it sounds like she's a minute away from throwing it all on the floor. "Where the hell are my fucking keys?! God, I swear to you if I don't find my keys right now I'll go up there myself and kick your— found them." The sound stops and I still can't find my oversized shirt.

Even God is afraid of Ada.

"What are you doing?" A confused Lucifer asks making me look at him with his eyes glued on my crazy self walking around the room.

"What are you doing?" Looking down to the floor, finding his shirt before mine and kneeling down to grab it, it flies towards him the second I throw it at him. "Get dressed!"

With a quick lift of his hand, he grabs the shirt before it even touches his body.

The sound of the key opening the door hits my ears.

Fuck! Where is my shirt?!

"Lilith?!"

"She can't see you!"

Lucifer drops from the bed as he places his messy clothes on his body. "I thought you were freaking out because you have "be crazy" in your morning routine." Giving him a roll of the eyes smelling his sarcasm like a fresh lit candle, my shirt under the bed gets my attention as soon as my eyes lay on it.

"I can't get this shoe off—! Fuck!"

Walking towards it as fast as the wind, I can't even believe my body could move this fast at this hour in the morning.

"I'm having a terrible morning so you better get ready for our breakfast!"

Oh, she's pissed.

Finally being clothed and ready to stop Ada from coming in my room, my body turns to the door with the intention to walk towards it and leave.

But Lucifer's hand grabbing the handle stops me in shock.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper loudly to him once I grab his hand to swipe it away.

"Leaving...?" Like the most obvious thing in the world, Lucifer slowly says questioning if my head is at the correct place.

Well, no!

"No! She'll see you!"

"It'll be fine."

His hand touches the handle again, but just like before, mine moves it away. "Crazy!"

"No, that's you."

Placing my body between him and the door, my index finger points at him to make my decision clearer in his stupid brain. "Stay here and I'll kick her out, then you'll leave." I demand. "Don't move."

Giving me a side smile, Lucifer slowly nods. "Yes, ma'am."

"I'm definitely getting a drink otherwise I'll punch someone!" Before I can react to Lucifer, give him a annoyed look, the sound of Ada's footsteps towards the door makes my body swing around to open it and leave my room as quick as possible to close it behind me and stand my back facing it, still with my hand on the handle enabling her to see anything on the other side. "Lilith?"

"Hi!"

"Hi! What's the matter with you? You look crazy."

"What's the matter with you?" I take control of the conversation. "You sound crazy."

I'm trying my hardest to keep my composure and prevent Ada from seeing my suspicious face. Luckily for me, that question inevitably takes Ada wanting to explain her frustration, needing to get it all out.

Letting out a long sigh, Ada starts: "My history teacher said my essay was too much. Too much?! I talked about the differences society made between men and women throughout history, how the same things are sometimes seen good in men but bad in women and how it keeps going till today, and he said, and I quote: "maybe you should give it another try, see it from a different point of view." What's that supposed to mean?! See it from the perspective of a 60 year old man that thinks women belong in the kitchen?!" Damn, she didn't even took a breath in. Those strong lungs of hers. "Misogynistic prick!"

"We ride to kill him at dawn, right?" I add to make her continue and not notice my body strangely standing by my door, holding it close.

"That really messed up my morning," she says in a more calmer tone "can I please have your strawberry perfume? You know how much it calms me, I want to be in a good mood before we go."

"Sure—"

"And tonight Ryker has a fight, that of course you have to come with me because I'm angry right now and I wouldn't recommend saying no to me," I wasn't even thinking about it "and he's very excited since his opponent is apparently really good and he says that the fact that they gave him this fight means that he's getting really good at it and they're finally trusting him. I want to be on my best cheerleading behaviour."

I nod. "Sounds like a thing you would want to do."

"So..." she walks closer to me "can I use your perfume?"

Smiling to her, I receive one back. "You already know you can us— You can't go in my room." Fuck.

Turning her smile into an innocent sad look, Ada stops right in front of me. I hate myself from doing this. "Why not?"

"I ran out."

"You ran out? I used it yesterday and it was half full."

Shit, shit, shit, think fast, Lilith.

"I drank it."

I drank it?! That's the best I could do?!

When Ada's expression changes from an innocent to a confused one, coming up with conclusions on her head, I know I fucked up. Giving me little smile as her index finger points to the door behind me, my chest goes nervous just like when my mom was about to figure out I sneaked out the night before.

"Do you have a boy in there?" She whispers with an even bigger smile.

"What— no. Definitely not." My head quickly shaking side to side to make my point more believable, it doesn't work, Ada walking closer to my body and staring deeply into my eyes, my body knows there's no escaping it.

"You had sex!"

"No, no, no, no, no."

"I know that shine...!" Grabbing my cheeks to keep me in place, Ada stares at me as if I had a piece of bread in my eyes and she was starving. "But this one is different, definitely is. Better than I've ever seen it, you shine differently." This can't be good, Ada can't be saying this things... Lucifer is clearly hearing. "Was is that good?"

Oh, God!

"What are you gonna wear tonight?" I change the subject. "Something slutty or more casual to be comfortable while jumping and screaming Ryker's name?"

"Your eyes shine and your swerve away from the subject, you definitely had sex!" Once her hands let go of my cheeks I take the opportunity to grab her arms and swing her body around to lead her towards the front door. "I'm begging you please tell me who this guy is that has your face shining this good."

Fuck! I can already see Lucifer smiling like a proud idiot right now. And I hate it!

I don't stop our walk. "We need to—"

Ada manages to let herself free of my grip and turn around her body, staring at my face once again. "Definitely had to be a good night for you to blush!"

I open my mouth as if that offended me. "I'm not blushing!"

"You are! That's so cute! C'mon, tell me who it is!"

I turn her body around one more time. "Wait for me outside, we'll go to breakfast and—"

"Does his name starts with an F? An A? Perhaps an L—"

Aaaaaaah!

"Here's a thought," I stop right on the door with my hands still on her "why don't we go today to that restaurant that you beg me desperately to go?"

Brusquely turning around with a huge smile and excited eyes, Ada stares at me taking her time to process my words. "The place where the bartender looks like Harry Styles? The one that you never want to go because it's an hour long trip on the bus?"

Oh, boy.

"Yep, that one."

I regret everything.

"Fuck yeah! I'm definitely feeling better."

I turn her body around one last time. "Go call a taxi by the road, I'll change real quick."

"Wait, my shoes!" Not letting go of her, we both walk to the couch for her to grab them and go back to the opened door. "You made me forget about my professor but you can't make me forget the boy you have in there that makes you shine like this!" I hate everyone. "Bye bye! See you in a bit!"

The sound of the door being closed hits my ears followed by my sight losing Ada. I stand there letting out the biggest and longest breath ever. I don't even want to open that door, Lucifer is probably waiting for me with a cocky smile on his face ready to make fun of me until the end of my days. Not even that, when we die, he's definitely gonna look for me as a ghost and talk about how Ada said my eyes shine differently because of him.

There's no escaping it, he has to leave my room one way or another. My head wants to throw a gas bomb in here and prevent myself from talking to him, but I can't do that... I don't have one.

Walking with tired and regretful steps, my feet take my body towards the door. Once my hand is on the handle, another long breath comes out of me.

Would it be too bad if I just dipped and left him there?

Ignoring my idea, my hand opens the door allowing my eyes to see the smiley Lucifer slowly leaning on the door frame. He's now dressed with the clothes from yesterday, but that doesn't matter, the way that he stares at me without saying a word makes me impatient for what may comes next.

"A word and you're dead, Donovan." I prevent the situation getting worst than it already is by lifting my index finger to shush him even if no words are coming out of him just yet.

With the cocky smile still on his face, Lucifer shrugs his shoulders. "I didn't say anything."

"You were about to."

"How can you know?"

"You have that proud smile on your face." I say with a disgusted face grabbing his arm to pull him away from my own room to the door.

"It's just a smile." Even if he's trying to sound innocent, not a single innocent thought is going on inside his head. I just know it.

"Then don't smile."

"I can't help it, I'm way too happy to erase it." Once we both arrive by the door, my hand quickly opens it before I see Lucifer turning around to face me and leaving our bodies closer to each other. "I'm totally gonna make fun of you later."

"Well, see you never, then." I try to push him out of the dorm by placing my hands on his chest, but he doesn't even move a step back. 

"I'll see you tonight."

I stop to stare at him in the eyes, confused. "What?"

"I have a fight too."

Fuck.

And double... no, triple, fuck.

"I'll pretend to not know you."

"C'mon, Avery, you and me both know you wouldn't be able to do that even if you were dead."

I lift an eyebrow, looking him up and down. "Who are you and why are you in my room, stranger?"

Rolling his eyes as his left hand reaches on the back of his pocket taking a cigarette and a lighter out, Lucifer finally takes a step out of the dorm. "Alright, I'll leave." With his right hand, he slowly gets it closer to my face. "I just need to do something first."

Without an answer, he gently grabs my cheeks lifting my face up just a bit. Moving it side to side like he's expecting something, the way that his eyebrows go furrowed and his eyes stare at my skin, indicates how focused he is on his unknown task.

"What are you doing?" I finally ask, getting no words coming from him. I'm surprised I even let him do this to me, to be honest.

Giving me a grin, he meets my eyes. "Trying to see that "I had sex with Lucifer" shine." He quickly laughs the moment my hands slap his away from my face to move to his chest and push him away once again.

"Out!"

Finally, I close the door with a quick swing to let my forehead rest in it. It's only ten AM, but it feels like I've lived an entire day.

"See you tonight, love." I hear Lucifer say on the other side. "And I'll find you, that shine won't be easy to hide."

A long sigh coming out of me it's followed by a chuckle from him and his footsteps getting further and further away.

When my head isn't a mess of emotions, the universe has to give me something worst, make everything around me a complete mess.

There's only one thing for sure... I can't wait for tonight.

Let me figure out if that's sarcasm or not, I'll get to you a bit later.

>>>

"Tell me why I said yes to coming here?" I ask as the sound of our shoes walk towards the end of this familiar hallway. The excited screams of the crowd while a fight is going on slowly becomes louder and louder the more Ada and I walk inside of it.

"Because you had a boy over and you won't tell me who it is." Ada wraps her arm around mine, keeping our determined walk going. "This compensates it."

Right. She spent almost half an hour questioning me about the whole thing, but when the lookalike Harry Styles showed up, her attention, luckily for me, went straight to him.

"It's not that I won't tell you who it is," I defend myself "it's just that is not important enough for me to tell you."

"Important enough? I've never seen your face shine like that before. If you ask me, it looked like a bomb full of sparkles exploded in your eyes and you dipped your face in glitter."

I roll my eyes. Ada and her hopeless romantic self with her ideas of love.

"First of all, this shine that you talk about you invented it to annoy me. Then, secondly, you know me, hit it then quit it, it's done."

She quickly nods, innocently. "It is real though! The more I annoyed you, the more I started to realise the accuracy of it. And it doesn't matter that you're done! You always tell me who you spend the night with!"

"Well, it's not a big deal, I'll never see him again."

Ada points at me successfully, giving a huge smile. "Aha! So it is a he! Question number one, answered." With her fingers she does a tick in the air, proudly of what she accomplished.

"What is question number two:" I add, with sarcasm "is he old enough to be a professor or is he close to my age?"

But ignoring it, she slowly shakes her head. "I wouldn't be surprised if you fucked a teacher, to be honest. Specially Professor Howard."

"Not the old man!"

"What? He seems fun!"

"You fuck him then, don't let me stop you."

"Ryker would mind, I think." Now she's the one with the sarcasm. We're honestly made for each other.

"Oh, right," I roll my eyes "you're in love." Faking a gag out, Ada gently pushes my arm.

Like she's not used to me doing it, right.

"I am! Don't do that!" I fake another one out. "Stop, you're annoying."

Giving her a quick dramatic and loud kiss on the cheek before she can prevent it, I bring her body closer like a aunty that hasn't seen you in months. "Thank you, baby."

"You're definitely doing this to get back at me for questioning you about the boy." She swipes her cheek.

"Yeah," I innocently nod "and I'm not even done yet."

Before Ada can reply to my words, the sound of the crowd hitting our ears to the fullest becomes the main thing out eyes are interested. The familiar ring with two fighters on top of it trying to take the win home appears in front of me. I recognise Colin immediately, with his black hair and red gloves, the moment that I lay my eyes on him he lands a punch on his opponent, who loses his balance almost for a full second, but recovers to keep on fighting even if he doesn't look like he's gonna last much longer.

The crowd is insane, I've never seen this many people around the ring excited for the fight in front of them. Colin and his opponent must have been giving a great show, the more and more they fight, the better the crowd gets.

"Girls!" The voice of Ivy becomes louder than the rest since she's now in front of me, taking my eyes to her. With her dark red hair and million of tattoos, the happy girl welcomes us both with a hug.

"Hi, Ivy!" Ada's words follow the hug.

"Colin's fighting right now!" Ivy, pointing at the ring, leads my attention to the fight and see how Colin's glove punches the side of his opponent's face, harder than the one before. It takes a couple of seconds for him to recover while Colin stands behind the referee who prevents him to make another punch, but happy news for a part of the crowd, the guy lifts his gloves to continue with the fight.

"I guess he's winning!" I say going back to Ivy, who quickly nods.

"Oh, yeah! He had the upper hand even when the fight wasn't happening. This guy is easy!"

"There's a lot of people here!" Ada says just like my thought before.

"Well," Ivy replies "when the greatest fighter has a fight tonight, people are gonna show, babe!"

"Who?" I can't help but ask.

The smile that she does gives me the impression of her loving the word that's about to come out of her. "Lucifer!"

I get butterflies on my stomach once I hear his name. It's not news that I was gonna see him fight tonight, but hearing it come from another mouth, and understanding it's sooner than my head realised making it a reality, it somehow made me excited for what may come.

Him.

"Ryker's next so I better go," Ivy says waving at us "money is flying for him!"

"Really?" Ada smiles, happy for her boyfriend. "He must be excited!"

"He'll be even more when I tell him you're here!"

Leaving Ada and I alone as the crowd goes louder and louder, my hand automatically grabs Ada's arm to pull us both to the left side of the room. Finding a good spot, our eyes go back to the fight to finally see Colin's opponent falling to the floor as the referee blows his whistle to end the fight.

Soon after, the crowd goes crazy followed by Colin lifting his arms to the air celebrating his new win. He looks excited and proud of himself, smiling even if his mouth protection inside turns it into a crocked one.

"That guy does not look good." Ada says talking about the laying fighter on the floor. He gets picked up by his coach with drops of blood dripping from his face and mouth. I don't mind it, maybe seeing horrible things for my career is helping me here, but it's obvious that Ada is not used to it. Once my eyes turn to her, her worried face doesn't pass unnoticed by me.

"Ryker's gonna be fine." I try my best to make her feel better. I can't imagine what it must be life to see someone you love getting punched in the ring, and to make it worse seeing how could Ryker end up in front of her.

Ada meets my eyes with a tiny smile, but I know her, in her eyes there's nothing but concern for the next fight.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The referee talks on the microphone. Ada grips her hand on my arm more strongly. "Please welcome, Ryker Eisher from the Wolves!"

The crowd chants for him, some girls scream his name while others just clap without being able to control their excitement for the fight. Ryker has gotten a bigger fame than the last time I saw him in the ring, must be why they gave him this fight to begin with.

Ryker with his perfect hair and determined look, walks through the door more confidently than ever. He's definitely not the guy that got scared by me yelling his name the other night, and not the one who doesn't get my sarcasm and jokes, he's secure on what he's about to do and knows his place in the ring, he's ready to own it.

Ada claps by my side trying to put her nervousness aside. Maybe seeing her boyfriend up there is gonna make her feel better, transform a bit of Ryker's confidence to her.

"C'mon, baby! Kick some ass!" She screams with so much power in her voice that I believe some people around us heard her over the crowd.

I smile to myself, her cheerleading side has definitely woken up.

My eyes go back to Ryker. With Covaliov behind him, they both get up on that ring once the referee welcomes the other fighter.

"Please welcome, Kyle from Phoenix!"  And just like before, the crowd chants once again.

My eyes inevitably go towards the door where Ryker just walked out of finding the new fighter walking with determination to the ring. My heart suddenly drops to my stomach when I recognise the person behind him, with the darkness in his eyes that haunt the room.

Alexander Wick.

He walks with an expensive suit on while a tiny grin is on his face. I have to cross my arms around my chest to prevent my chest from feeling something I don't want to, seeing those dark eyes and intimidating look brings back the night before. My eyes need to concentrate on something else, otherwise, there's nothing that could stop from going after him and telling him everything I couldn't the last time I saw him.

Lucky for me and my desire to do so, Damian's nowhere to be found. I wonder around the room expecting to find him, he wouldn't miss an opportunity to mess with anyone from Covaliov's group, but he's not here, or at least, not where I could see him.

The referee blowing his whisper brings my attention back to the now started fight. Ryker's arms are lifted by his chin protecting his neck from any possible punch while his opponent seems ready to throw one. And he does. A second after my eyes leave Ryker, the quickness of his opponent's punch manages to prevent Ryker from dodging it landing on the side of his head.

"Fuck!" Ada complains by my side. I can't help but stare at her to make sure her worry isn't there anymore. Her fingers are crossed around each other with strength while they lay on her chin, tense of what her eyes are seeing, calculating and focused on the fight and every movement on the ring. "Yeah, baby! C'mon!" The smile now on Ada's face bring my attention back to the fight.

Ryker's opponent lays on his knees trying to get better from a punch he received on the side of his head. Covaliov claps excited while Ryker slowly nods, waiting for the fight to continue behind the referee. Alexander doesn't seem too excited, his arms are crossed around his chest while he's eyes are glued to his fighter, now slowly getting up from the floor. It must've been a pretty good punch, maybe even giving Ryker a step ahead on this fight.

"You can win, baby, c'mon!" Ada yells again as she claps.

The moment the opponent is on his feet, the way that he stands enables me to look away intriguing me. He looks pissed. His gloves go back to his chin as a quick and heavy breathing comes out of his nose, and even if I'm far and my sight isn't the best, I can still see the anger and dark look on his eyes. I haven't got nervous on this fight, but that, just made my heart skip a beat. Even if that punch left him a bad consequence for him, I don't think it had the best outcome for Ryker either.

He better get angrier too, otherwise—

The referee blows the whistle and the opponent lands another strong and fast punch. It all happens so fast, that my eyes couldn't see half of the things that happened. Before I can understand anything, another punch has been made towards Ryker leaving him laying on the floor with a big red mark on the side of his forehead.

Ada's gasp leads my eyes to her and her hand now covering her mouth.

"You're my bitch! Mine!" The fighter screams as Ryker tries to get up from the floor.

In my head there's no way that Ryker could recover from those punches, even from where I'm standing I felt how strong they where. But, proving me wrong, Ryker's left hand rests on the floor of the ring while his body slowly gets up. Being clapped by Covaliov because he's doing so, my eyes can't help but go back to Alexander right after to find a grin now is on his face, happy of what his fighter accomplished.

The referee makes sure that Ryker is good to keep on fighting, lifting two of his fingers all I can see is him nodding and saying something my ears can't hear. Covaliov says something on his ear to then pat his shoulders and gently push him to the middle of the where his opponent is waiting for him.

One more time, my eyes lead to Ada to see if she's alright. Nothing has changed from her position, her eyes are glued to the ring just like before, and I know that there's no point on getting her attention, she won't acknowledge my presence beside her, so, I don't bother her and make my eyes go back to the ring.

The second I do, the whistle sounds again.

This time, Ryker does manage to dodge the first punch his opponent tries to get at him. I find myself smiling and nodding, proud for him. Another punch, another dodge. He's getting better at figuring out what's the style of the punches and how to prevent any other fail like the two times before.

"That's it, baby!" Ada's screams don't turn my attention towards her this time since Ryker moves his arm to make his move, but it gets easily dodge. "Shit!"

"Lilith." Ivy's voice by my side turns my eyes to her.

"Ivy." Seeing the worry in her face as she's looking around confuses me. "Are you alright?" I can't help but ask.

"Yes," she meets my eyes "it's Lucifer."

I brusquely turn to her as my heart drops to my stomach hearing his name come out with a worried tone. "What?" The word came out quicker than I intended to.

"He told me to take you to his room."

"Why? I'm not leaving Ada alone."

"He knew that so he told me to take her too."

"Did something happen?"

Ivy doesn't respond right after my question, instead, her eyes go to the fight still happening. "Not yet."

"What do you mean?"

The crowd getting louder makes my attention lead to the ring, Ryker has landed a punch and it looks like his opponent got affected by it pretty bad. He slowly shakes his head in pain while the referee stops the fight to make sure he's alright. Maybe Ryker has the upper hand now, even if he didn't a minute ago.

"Ada's not gonna lose the fight." I shake my head seeing the concentration my friend has.

"She'll want to." Those words get chills down my back. Ivy's voice was soft but it still managed to be heard by me, doing that, tells me she doesn't want any other people hearing what she's saying.

"Ivy," I go back to her "what are you talking about?"

Before she can reply, the sound of something hitting the floor of the ring goes bigger than the crowd chanting. Inevitably, my head turns to the fight to see what just happened. The moment I do, I regret it.

Ryker's laying on the floor without moving while his opponent celebrates around him. Covaliov jumps to the ring and quickly walks towards his fighter to kneel down and cheek if he's ok, but from where I'm standing, it doesn't fucking look like it.

"Ryker!"

The quickness of Ada's body as she heads her way towards the ring enables me from stopping her or even keep up with her, the crowd and the excitement of them all make me lose her giant curls and worried body. I try to make my way around the crowd, but not even if I place my hands to move people out of the way, my body can't manage to walk through it.

"Ada!" I try to scream her name lying to myself, believing that she could hear it above all of this noise. Before I can make another try to make my way through it once again, a hand grabs my arm preventing me. "Ivy, I need to find Ada!" I say once I see that red head behind me.

"We'll find her but not here!" She gently pushes me. "C'mon, walk with me!"

She's right, I'm not gonna be able to find her with all of this crowd in between us. Letting Ivy walk my body where she wants to, I still wonder around the room hoping to see those curls above some heads. But nothing, not even a single curl.

While I'm still being dragged by Ivy, my eyes look to the ring. Since I'm further away now, there's not much I can see. Ryker's opponent, since he's the only one standing, his shoulders and head slowing nodding is all my sight can see and help my head understand what's currently happening. Maybe Ryker is still trying to get better to continue the fight or it all ended to begin with and there's nothing to keep further, but slowly seeing how Ryker's head pops up on my sight, it allows me to understand that they're gonna keep going after all.

The referee's whistle sounds yet once again.

My eyes go down still hoping to see Ada, but what I found, it's worst than not seeing my best friend anywhere. Damian with his dark eyes and perfect black hair, smiles at me as a little grin is placed on his face. I despise it with a huge amount of power, my face immediately makes a disgusted expression without even having to think about it or having the chance to prevent it.

Looking forward I see that we're both getting closer to the door that leads to the hallway. Thankful that the crowd is soon gonna be gone from around me, the way that they all start to chant again makes my head hurt, followed by the same sound from before, someone hitting the floor of the ring.

I don't even want to look back, but my intrigue wins, my eyes lead to the ring hoping to see Ryker standing. We're at the door now and there's almost nothing I can see from the ring, expect for one thing, some pair of gloves being lifted by the referee soon followed by the whistle.

I don't know much about way boxing, the rules, not even what's he purpose of it, but here's one thing for sure, those are not Ryker's gloves.

All I can think about is Ada and how she must feel right now, seeing her boyfriend lay there with blood all over his body not even moving a muscle. She must be feeling awful, and I'm here, not by her side.

The ring is no longer around me, instead, the cold and dark hallway I've seen before surrounds just like the smell of sweat. "Ivy, what is going on?" I ask the second she lets go of my arm and walks further into the room. "Where's Ada?"

"She's probably gonna walk through that door any second now." Ivy doesn't turn around to face me, she seems way too focused on getting somewhere.

"How can you be sure?" I get no response. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Fuck this. "I'm gonna find her." I turn around without waiting for an answer. I expect Ivy to stop me, she's the one that dragged me here, but before she can, Covaliov walking through the door with Ryker being held by him and Ada following them right after a sigh of relief immediately comes out of me.

"Is he gonna be ok?"

"Ada don't worry," Colin appears out of nowhere, caressing Ada's shoulder trying to comfort her  "he'll be fine."

Ada doesn't sound too convinced, she follows her boyfriend up close as they all get closer and closer to where Ivy and I are standing.

"C'mon, boy, sit down." Sitting Ryker by the side of the door behind me where a chair is, Covaliov starts to check every possible wound his fighter has.

"I failed, coach," Ryker says with his heavy breathing troubling his words "I failed you. I'm sorry to disappoint you, you trusted me to win this fight and I didn't, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"

Covaliov grabs both of his cheeks to focus him on his eyes. "Shut up, boy! Don't annoy me! You didn't disappoint me, you hear me? You didn't." Even if his voice is firm, I can still hear the proudness in his tone. There's a couple of things that I could pick out from Covaliov, but he truly cares about his fighters and that, makes him an excellent coach. "You put up a good fight, a great fight, it doesn't matter that you didn't win, you did your best even if you were at your lowest and that makes me fucking proud. You understand me?"

Ryker nods letting his back rest on the chair, being happy that he heard those words.

"Coach," Colin says, gaining his attention "we need to take him to the gym. Ruby's not here and there's not enough equipment to take care of him."

Coach nods. "Take him."

"Hey," Ryker slowly talking in pain leads my eyes to him, who's looking at Ada with a sweet smile "you're here."

Caressing his red cheek, Ada kneels down in front of him. "I am, baby."

"And you are?" I can hear the confusion in coach's voice. They haven't met yet and that's clear on the way he looks at her, intimidatingly and firm, but that doesn't matter to Ada, she stays her ground and doesn't lose the eye contact with my boss not even for a second.

That's my tough girl.

"I'm his girlfriend and I'm coming with you. And I wouldn't recommend arguing with me because I'm pissed right now and I've been accumulating my anger towards men all day long, I won't hold back."

Covaliov's confusion suddenly turns into a quick grin on his face. Slowing nodding, he gives a quick look to Ryker who's now being held by Colin.  "I like her." He quickly walks towards me as they all place their focus on the beaten fighter. "Your best friend?"

I proudly nod. "Yep."

"I wouldn't like to see the after match of someone who messed with you two."

I chuckle. Me neither.

"It's alright with you that I go?" Ada asks me as Covaliov goes back to Ryker and Colin.

I quickly nod. "Yeah, I'll stay with Ivy. Don't worry about me."

"Who told me to fall in love with a boxer?" Ada asks in frustrating looking back at her boyfriend.

"You did."

She rolls her eyes at herself. "Punch me later."

I smile. "It would be my pleasure."

Seeing that they're starting to walk towards the back door to take Ryker to the gym, Ada gives me a last look before following Colin. "Tell me who everything goes later!"

I stand in my place, in silence.

Now what?

I turn my head to the side expecting to see Ivy or Covaliov but neither of them are here with me, just an empty hallway with the smell of tired bodies.

Lucifer told Ivy to take me here. "Why?" is the question that still runs in my head. To be left alone here? And do nothing? What's the point of this? Hello?!

"Hi." A familiar voice speaks behind me sending a tingle feeling to my stomach.

Before I can turn around to face the voice, a pair of warm hands grab my arm pulling me back into a room. I hear the door closing as my eyes stare at my strange surroundings. Once they locate the boy in front of me since I can't recognise anything, my heart immediately jumps to my stomach excited.

Lucifer suddenly faces me with a grin after he closes the door, and without even saying a word, he takes a step closer to my body making me take a breath in getting nervous at his sudden closeness.

"Wow, Lucifer." I say. "Dragging me into the room? You do know how to get a lady." My sarcasm wins a chuckle coming from him.

He doesn't stop getting closer to the point of his body almost touching mine. My eyes stare down at his lips once his hand gently grabs my cheek growing the need to suddenly kiss him and ignore whatever could be happening outside this room.

"Are you ok?" He asks with a soft tone, almost in a whisper.

I slowly nod, getting lost in his eyes once I meet them with mine. His thumb starts to caress my skin making my chest go warmer the more he moves. I don't know what I'm feeling, why I'm not pushing him away or even insult him in any way, it's clear that the bug that bit me this morning is still affecting me because if I were in my normal self right now, I would've at least give him one insult.

My mouth doesn't open. The more I wait, the more my lips want to end the space between us and kiss him. He doesn't say anything either, but I know for sure, by the way he's grinning he loves to have me on the palm of his hand just like he's doing right now. Without even a complaint coming from me.

It must've been a pretty lethal bug.

"Covaliov can come in at any second." I finally say as he brushes our noses together. "He could kill you for not focusing on your next fight."

Lucifer grins even bigger. "I'm gonna die anyway if I don't kiss you right now, Avery." He whispers. "I rather die because of Covaliov and not because I didn't take the opportunity to kiss the shit out of you."

Before I can reply to his words, as my body was dying for him to do so, he crushes our lips together. The softness of his skin caresses mine as the kiss is as slow as the taste going to each body to the other. My hands can't help but brush and play around with his hair, my lips ask for more so it quickly speeds it up allowing for his tongue to join mine inside of my mouth. The pit of my stomach doesn't hold back when the tingles come through once again, making my heart jump to my stomach as excited as it can get.

I don't want him to break the kiss, I don't want his body to leave mine and my lips are telling him that. They both kiss the other like they haven't seen each other in a million of years, and our lips are the only thing that satisfies them.

I hold him closer to my body even if there's no space left, my hands can't let him go, they went to touch every angle of him for as long as they can...

"Lucifer!" The firm and loud voice of Covaliov sounds from the other side of the door causes us both to brusquely move away from each other. "One minute, boy, get out of there!"

Our heavy breathings are the only thing we can hear and while the taste of the kiss is still on my lips, my mouth can't get anything out.

"Duty calls, Avery." Lucifer says stepping closer to my face and grins, looking down to my lips. "You better leave after me, we don't want coach thinking we did something we weren't supposed to."

Before I can say something, he leaves a quick kiss on my lips before opening the door and leaving the room behind.

I stay there still surprised at the kiss. My tongue licks my lips wanting to taste him one more time, but there's nothing more than my cherry lipstick.

A long breath escapes my mouth when I look around the room. What am I doing? Kissing him like this? Then be mesmerised by it and stand afterwards like a complete idiot? What has happened to me?

Lucifer Donovan. That's what.

Shit.

I find myself smiling after thinking of him but I quickly slap myself, swiping it away.

You saw nothing.

Before I get stupid again, I leave the room behind after checking if anyone's around to see me. Luckily for me, they're all too focused on a certain boy being introduced.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The fighter you've been waiting for! Lucifer from the Wolves!"

I walk towards the door to see the fight for myself, even if my head isn't much interested in it but the boy in it. Laying my back on the door frame, I cross my arms around my chest ready to see it all happen.

Lucifer walks towards the ring with Covaliov behind him while his opponent waits for the fight to start. Just like every time he walks in the room, the crowd goes crazy for him, money is being waved around, people scream his name as they clap impatiently for the fight. No matter how many times I see this, I can't get used to it. How they all yell for Lucifer in admiration, wanting to be like him, wanting to be him, needing to have him in the room. Half of this crowd is here for Lucifer, no one else.

Somehow, the guy standing on that ring isn't the one that I had in front of me a minute ago. He turns into someone else, with a firm look and intimidatingly stand, he owns the place he's in like he owns his own body.

A long breath comes out of my mouth when the referee places the whistle inside his mouth, ready to blow it. Suddenly, my heart speeds seeing Lucifer turn his position into the one I've seen before, where his chin is covered by his gloves and his head is slightly tilted forward. The nervousness in my body doesn't pass unnoticed by me the more and more I wait for the fight to start sending the wonder of why am I feeling like this to my head.

The sound of the whistle sounds in the room enabling my eyes to look away from the started fight.

Neither of them make a move at first, they both move around the ring as if they're trying to figure out the other. Or at least, that's what it looks like to me. Lucifer doesn't look away from his opponent, not even down to his body or gloves, their eyes are connected waiting for any movement that could happen.

I wait impatiently for something, as so does the crowd getting louder and louder the more seconds pass.

Finally, my eyes follow Lucifer's opponent make his move by throwing a punch with his right arm. Lucifer easily dodges it by swinging back and immediately going back to his prior position. He doesn't last long there since another punch gets thrown at him, but just like before, he does the same and dodges it with ease.

Every moment that there's a punch going his way, I can't help but notice my heart jumping to my stomach each time. There's no time for me to control it, the fight's getting faster and faster each second. Even if Lucifer's opponent is the own throwing the punches, it looks like Lucifer has the upper hand since he doesn't seem affected by any of them. He just goes back to his position waiting for another strike.

What's he doing?

Lucifer is definitely known for always grabbing the perfect opportunity and make an even bigger advantage for him. What could possible be earned by doing this? Getting his opponent tired? Making him believe the other has the upper hand by letting him get a few punches in?

Looks like I'm correct, the last punch Lucifer's opponent throws at him is weaker than the one before. He's getting exhausted the more he punches. Another one and it doesn't even take a lot of work to Lucifer to go past it. Following this, by the way that Lucifer brusquely goes back to his position tells me he found his opportunity.

Seeing how frustrated and tired the other guy is, faster than the wind and any second I can count, Lucifer's left hand does the first punch of the night coming from him. The entire crowd goes crazy the moment the guy stumbles backwards and shakes his head in pain. Lucifer doesn't hold back and swings another punch, this time with his right hand. I don't have a lot of knowledge of the sport, but I do know that being able to throw perfect punches with your two different hands is definitely not a normal thing to happen.

No wonder he's the best.

I find myself smiling to myself proud of Lucifer, liking the confident look on his face when the referee holds two fingers up to make sure the opponent is alright to keep fighting. While they're doing this, I look back at Lucifer to see if he's talking to Covaliov, who hasn't left the side of the ring not even for a second.

But for my surprise, his green eyes meet mine. He's looking right at me. I smile even bigger but I quickly bite the inside of my cheek to prevent him from seeing it. He does grin at me as he gives me a wink, happy that I'm seeing him have the fight on the palm of his hand.

When the referee gets up as well as the other guy, he slowly shakes his head and places his gloves in front of his chin ready to keep fighting. I lose Lucifer's eyes when he goes back too, getting his position ready. The whistle blows again.

Just like before, the first punch is thrown by the opponent and easily gets dodge by Lucifer. And this time, differently than a couple of minutes ago, Lucifer doesn't wait to find his opportunity and throws another punch. It gets dodge even if he stumbles afterwards giving Lucifer another opportunity to strike again, and finally, the punch lands on the side of opponent's head making him fall to the floor.

I can't tell if the crowd goes crazy after that, the way that Lucifer immediately looks at me and sends a grin my way, makes my heart stop and my eyes to get lost in him like a movie scene. There's silence around me, only his breathing being heavy is the only thing my ears want to focus on allowing me to get the crowd's noise away from my ears.

Slowly, I see how the referee walks towards Lucifer and lifts his arm into the air, announcing his win. I don't care about anything else, his green eyes are all that matters with my heart speeding fast because of them. I find myself smiling once again and this time I don't hide it, instead, I let him see that I'm enjoying this more than he can imagine.

Before Covaliov shakes Lucifer's shoulders, excited for his fighter's win, Lucifer points with his head towards the hallway behind me. I don't argue by giving him an expression, instead, I do as he says and leave the room behind to head my way to the door I was before.

Once there, my foot swings up and down waiting impatiently for him. It's not a bad feeling, to be honest, it's more the excitement to have those mesmerising green eyes and that tired body in front of me.

Seriously, what is happening to me? Excited to see him? Nervous because he's about to walk through that door?

I'm definitely on drugs.

"I did the first punch and he was already on the floor." I hear Lucifer's voice say once him and coach walk through the door.

For some reason, I get the strange feeling of needing to hide without them seeing me. Walking inside Lucifer's room, I still manage to keep my body close to the door so I can hear their on going conversation.

"Because you're the best, boy!"

"Because it was an easy fight, coach." Lucifer sounds frustrated with a mix of disappointment, definitely not the emotions I was expecting to see on him after winning that fight. And special not after he gave me that grin while on the ring. "Nothing wrong with this guy but I'm two levels above him, why are you giving me the easy ones?"

"You don't need to worry any hard fights right now, even if your fight with Damian is still a month away you need to focus on that."

They go quiet for a second, not even their steps can be heard anymore. Suddenly, as I hear a sigh coming from one of them it immediately tells me they're closer now causing me to deeply hope they don't get in this room together finding me focused on their conversation and hiding in here, where I know I shouldn't be.

"I was supposed to fight Ryker's opponent, wasn't I?" Lucifer asks. "You knew that he wasn't gonna win, why did you put him through that?"

"Don't question what I do, boy." I can feel the frustration from coach even where I'm standing. "That fight did him good even if he lost, a good fighter has to know how to receive punches. Experience is experience, you know that."

"That doesn't take away the fact that you did this to protect me."

"Listen," Covaliov's tone goes calmer now.  "I knew that Ryker was gonna lose but I also knew that he was gonna be alright. He's not as good as you but he can damn well hold his own at the level he is. Yes, I gave him your fight to protect you and would do it again, right now we have to extra careful since we have Alexander sniffing our asses every move we make. Until you fight Damian, once in a while, I am gonna give you an easy fight, got it?" Silence follows them allowing my head to ask questions about their words.

Does Alexander know about their plan?

What is actually their plan? I mean, if they want to take him down, how are they planning to do so?

"Now go clean yourself and go home." Covaliov speaks again. "I'm gonna make sure Colin and Ryker got there alright."

A set of footsteps get further and further away from my ears. Soon followed by a sigh, Lucifer, if I'm correct he's still there on the other side of the door, he moves his body towards the room ready to open it and walk inside.

I get nervous once again. Those green eyes are gonna see me in here after my ears played the 80 year old woman part of being the noisy neighbour. So, to not look suspicious at all, my feet take a couple of steps back as my eyes try to find something to focus on.

But it's too late to find something interesting and that it would make sense, the moment that the doors open my attention goes towards a tiny painting of a cow in a field like it's the most interesting thing in the entire world.

"Interesting painting?" I hear his cocky tone follow the door being closed.

Turning to face him, I pretend that I've been looking at this pointing for as long as I've been in this room. "It's a cute little cow, what's not to like?"

Hearing a chuckle coming from him as he removes the bandages from his hands, I find myself staring at him like he is the more interesting thing in the entire world.

His tattoos shine because of his sweaty skin and his muscles move like they did a moment ago when he was fighting, with strength and determination, even if he's just doing something as simple as taking the shirt out of a backpack.

"Nice fight, champ." I say when my feet get closer to him without my brain telling them to, they're hearing my hands and their need to touch him. "You had the whole crowd going crazy for you."

He suddenly stops with what he's doing to stare at me with a grin, already having an intrusive thought inside of him. "I didn't hear you scream my name, though. You'll have to compensate it tonight, don't you think?"

How can he turn from a frustrated boy talking to his coach to this, a cocky man with the confidence of a thousand men combined.

My eyes inevitably go down to his chest when he turns to face me. "Take a shower first, play boy."

"Come to my apartment and take it with me."

He's so quick with his responses not even my brain can process them with the same speed.

"I have to tell you all about how you almost caused me the fight."

"What?"

"Boxers are recommended to not have sex the night before a fight, I always thought it was bullshit, but now I get it. I'll have to see if what they say about the night of the fight." He teases. "If I have more... energy."

"You really think you're gonna be able to handle it?" I make my move but it's immediately shut down when Lucifer looks down to my lips making my heart speed.

"Let's add that to the list of things you'll regret later."

He doesn't wait for an answer, instead, after placing the shirt on his body with a quick movement and grabbing my hand, he takes us both outside of the room. All my eyes can stare at our fingers locked and how good they look together, his tattoos complimenting my hand as his soft skin warms mine. I can't help it once again, I smile thinking about it.

Fuck!

But differently than last time, I don't have to slap it away, the moment Lucifer suddenly stops and my eyes look up to see what is the reason, finding a pair of dark eyes make my smile fly away from my own face.

Lucifer immediately lets go of my hand and takes a step in front of me, hiding me from Alexander.

"Good job, Lucifer. The first punch and you already had him on the palm of your hand."

"What do you want, Alexander?"

"Congratulate you, of course. And tell you that we're getting really excited to fight with you." Popping his head a bit to the side to locate me behind Lucifer, Alexander gives me a little smile.

Ugh.

"Hi, Lilith." He says, slowly and softly for Lucifer to hear it and despise it.

Alexander gets what he wants, Lucifer even more firm than before, prevents him from looking at me just like he did before. "Don't talk to her."

"Why not?"

Lucifer shakes his head as a fake chuckle escapes his mouth. "You're real brave coming here knowing that Covaliov just left."

"I'm a grown man and I can make my decisions without caring what another grown man thinks."

"Yeah, I know you're big boy making your own big boy decision. Big enough to decide to destroy another's man career?"

I stay quiet, very interested on what I'm hearing. What did he say? Is he talking about Adam Deniov?

"Terrorising him until he thinks not even his family is safe?"

Terrorising meaning... threats?

Was I right?

"Don't pretend to be the good guy, Alexander, you an me both know exactly who you are."

My eyes look down when Lucifer holds my hand once again, telling me to get ready to leave.

"Look at her one more fucking time I swear I don't give a fuck about who's above you and me, I'm tearing you apart."

I get chills on the back of my neck hearing his words as he walks me out of the hallway towards the back door.

Oh my—

Oh.

Alright.

Ok.

Did I like that?

Suddenly, I don't find myself questioning about Alexander, not even Adam but Lucifer's words, repeating themselves in my head one... two... three... four times.

Don't look at her.

Oh, boy. My heart speeds again making me smile the moment I hear those words again inside my head. That's not good.

Definitely not.

...